NoticeAbility, a nonprofit that aims to provide schools with curriculum designed with dyslexic children’s needs in mind, marked two years in the Vineyard’s public school system this summer. In celebration of those who “funded the incubation of the organization,” as Dean Bragonier, founder of NoticeAbility, told The Times, a clambake and bonfire was held on Job’s Neck Beach last Friday evening.

“This spot is of great significance to me,” Bragonier said from atop a hay trailer to those gathered on the sand. “In 2015 I wanted to start this organization to help empower students with dyslexia. I decided the best way to get people’s attention was to do something absurd and attempt to swim around this Island. I got to this point here…

Last February, NoticeAbility was contacted by Aparna Rajesh, co-captain of Prototype G, a 9-person, all-female robotics team from New Jersey (ages 13-17 years old). Aparna had seen Dean’s Ted Talk and contacted NoticeAbility for advice: How could members of Prototype G teach their dyslexic friend about robotics (a field that, after all, caters to the dyslexic advantage)?

Excited to announce that Thomas West, the pioneer author in the dyslexic advantage field, will join Dean at his talk at the Field Club in Edgartown on 7/25 at 6:30. Having penned landmark books like In the Mind's Eye and Thinking like Einstein, Tom will be signing his newest release Seeing What Others Cannot See. The proceeds of all book sales will benefit NoticeAbility.

How do you protect important papers from an unfortunate coffee spill? What’s the most effective and convenient way to use technology to find lost items? How do you make man’s best friend available on demand? On Thursday, Dec. 22, three teams of students from Dean Bragonier’s innovative educational curriculum for students with dyslexia — Noticeability (NA) — gave their sales pitches for these ideas to a packed audience at Alex’s Place.

It was like a musical comedy … Starring the Simons. That’s how legendary singer/songwriter Carly Simon describes life growing up with her sisters and her mother. But there was a reason why they communicated in song: Carly was dyslexic, and had trouble speaking. Music made the words flow easier.

I first met Dean Bragonier, the founder of NoticeAbility — a nonprofit changing the world for students with dyslexia — after I saw him pitch at a Power Launch‘s Pitch InEvent in Boston. Pitch In is essentially a Shark Tank for Nonprofits and I love attending these events because you can learn a lot by watching executive directors pitch their organizations to the judges and audience. It’s fun to get a glimpse into how donors decide where to invest their funding and it’s interesting to see the way in which people use stories to demonstrate both their impact and their need.

If you were a dyslexic before then, you could kind of fly under the radar, but then it happened: the invention of the printing press. And along with it came the insistence that text-based learning be the standard for the transmission of education. Because right there, 20 percent of the population had a collective brain freeze. The one out of five people in the world who were dyslexic could make little to no sense of a printed page, and to them, technology became the enemy.

We’re 20% of the population. One in five individuals that you pass on the street today have dyslexia, but we represent 50% of all incarcerated youth. We also represent 60% of adolescents involved in drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

And yet, 35% of entrepreneurs are dyslexic. Through countless hours of dedication, they were able to persevere, but the ones that we’re reading about and know about represent a fraction of those who could be equally successful.

Through the generous support of The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation and the hospitality of The Martha's Vineyard Public School District, the Martha's Vineyard Charter School and the Island Wide Youth Collaborative, NoticeAbility is proud to announce the launch of The Martha’s Vineyard Learning Differences Community Enrichment Project.

DYSLEXIA ADVOCACY / Dyslexia: Making Learning Relevant / From the Landmark360 blog found here on May 25th, 2016.

Recently, we spoke to Dean Bragonier, founder of Noticeability, a non profit enabling students with dyslexia to cultivate their strengths and providing tools to the adults that serve them. Dean will also be addressing our graduates and families at Landmark’s 2016 commencement.

NoticeAbility’s is proud to announce its collaboration with Sarah Entine, an award-winning dyslexic documentarian and certified mindfulness instructor. Sarah has designed a dyslexic-specific mindfulness program that will be incorporated into NoticeAbility’s ‘Entrepreneurs and Innovators’ curriculum." As a dyslexic,” Sarah explains, “I’m not always grounded and secure, but I am on a path. Mindfulness and self-compassion practices are a great vehicle for empowerment and transformation, allowing me to ride the waves of life’s ups and downs with much greater ease." For more information visit www.readmedifferently.com.

Gala Awardee Dean Bragonier Returns to The Lab School 12/11/2015 Dean Bragonier says he is still reeling from the day and evening he spent at The Lab School visiting the campuses, interacting with the students, faculty and staff, and attending — and being honored at — the school’s annual 2015 Gala. “There is a spirit at The Lab School that I haven’t ever seen before at a school,” he says. “I wanted to come back to better understand how Lab makes learning come alive, truly come alive.”

Mr. Bragonier is the founder and executive dyslexic of NoticeAbility Inc., a nonprofit organization that designs and delivers proprietary curricula to students with dyslexia.Inspired by the neuroscientific discoveries presented in Brock L. Eide MD, MA and Fernette F. Eide MD’s book The Dyslexic Advantage, NoticeAbility’s curricula provide authentic inquiry experiences in vocational subject matters that capitalize on the neurological strengths of students with dyslexia: entrepreneurship, engineering, architecture, and the arts.

Mr. Bragonier has experienced his own challenges associated with his dyslexia and after struggling through the traditional secondary education system, he became a diligent and successful college student who developed a true love of learning at Bates College in Maine. His company is the culmination of his passion for education and his conviction that the advantages of dyslexia far outweigh its associated challenges.

At Lab, Mr. Bragonier met with Head of School Katherine Schantz to talk and share ideas, and also spent a few hours in Academic Club classes with Head of Academic Clubs Noel Bicknell. The students shared their experiences at their old schools and how different their experiences have been at Lab, especially in the Elementary and Intermediate Academic Clubs. “It’s fun to go back in time,” said one Intermediate student. “I still remember being mummified in Gods Club and why the body had to be salted,” said another student. Still another added, “Being in Club is like being a time traveler for a full year and that helps with learning.”

Mr. Bragonier observed the power of immersion in Lab's Academic Club Methodology as a way of teaching and learning, noting the ownership the students took in their work and the whole collaboration of donning characters with costumes, having a password to “leave the present and return to the past,” and learning history, math, engineering, and arts all at once. “This sense of ownership I see in the class is wonderful,” he says. “If you have a sense of ownership in your work whether in school or in business, you will no doubt succeed.”

During an Industrialists Club class, Mr. Bicknell was teaching the students, who were working on portraits of their characters, about contrast and how blacks, whites, and greys can change the image and interpretation of the subject in a photograph or a painting.

Making a difference….[ut_icon icon="fa-quote-left" size="fa-2x" align="alignleft" color="#000000"]“She looked at me and said congratulations and welcome to the family because everybody in my family was dyslexic and I went to feeling completely isolated to feeling completely embraced and held and connected. That was really the beginning of my life in the arts,” Sally Taylor told Hollywood on the Potomac at the 31st Anniversary Gala of the Lab School of Washington honoring outstanding Adults with Learning Differences. The singer-songwriter is the daughter of James Taylor and Carly Simon.This year the awards were presented to Justin Theroux, Actor, Screenwriter and Director, currently starring in “The Leftovers” on HBO; Sally Taylor, Musician and Artist, Founder of CONSENSES; Dean Bragonier, former Martha’s Vineyard restaurateur and founder of NoticeAbility.org; and Louis “Bo” Polk, business executive and venture capitalist.“On the one hand, it explained a lot,” Justin Theroux told us regarding the first time he realized he had a learning difference,”because I wasn’t doing well in school. On the one hand it was slightly depressing and then again, it was slightly liberating, I guess, when you realize at least ‘I’m not crazy and there’s not anything necessarily wrong with me.'”Earlier in the day, the honorees spent the day visiting The Lab School and engaging with the students via a Q and A assembly where they had the opportunity to hear personally how these successful people struggled with many of the issues that they themselves face.According to the mission statement, “The Gala raises awareness about learning differences and recognizes people who have overcome their own learning differences and gone on to achieve great heights in their careers and lives. Over the years, The Lab School has honored more than 120 outstanding achievers with learning differences. All of these talented individuals have inspired not only students, parents, and educators — but also, the larger Washington community and its civic and business leaders. The Lab School’s primary fundraising event, the annual Gala. also lauds the accomplishments of our students and the teachers who help them flourish into their best selves.”-Janet Donovan (10.17.2015). Photo credit: Geoff Chesman See more at:https://hollywoodonthepotomac.com/?p=67162